PlayStation's Secret Weapon: A Nearly All-Automated Factory (nikkei.com) 56
According to Nikkei Asian Review, much of the PlayStation's success can be attributed to an unassuming factory in Japan that is almost entirely operated by robots. From the report: On the outskirts of Kisarazu, a large, white building towers over an otherwise suburban landscape. Once inside, visitors are greeted by the whirring of motors as dozens of robots seamlessly churn out PlayStation 4 consoles. Just a few humans were present to deal with a handful of tasks -- two to feed bare motherboards to the line, and two to package the finished consoles. But the actual assembly is done entirely by articulated robots, supplied by Mitsubishi Electric. The 31.4-meter line, completed in 2018, has the ability to churn out a new console every 30 seconds.
The Kisarazu plant is operated by Sony Global Manufacturing & Operations, or SGMO, the group's manufacturing arm. The unit has worked with video game unit Sony Interactive Entertainment to bring cutting-edge technologies to the facility. One of the plant's crowning achievements is the use of robots to attach wires, tape and other flexible parts to the consoles. Twenty-six out of 32 robots at the Kisarazu plant are dedicated to the task, deftly handling materials most robots would find too finicky. "There's probably no other site that can manipulate robots in this manner," said an engineer. Every process -- all the way to final packaging -- is automated. The blend of robotic and human labor is painstakingly optimized with a priority on return on investment.
The Kisarazu plant is operated by Sony Global Manufacturing & Operations, or SGMO, the group's manufacturing arm. The unit has worked with video game unit Sony Interactive Entertainment to bring cutting-edge technologies to the facility. One of the plant's crowning achievements is the use of robots to attach wires, tape and other flexible parts to the consoles. Twenty-six out of 32 robots at the Kisarazu plant are dedicated to the task, deftly handling materials most robots would find too finicky. "There's probably no other site that can manipulate robots in this manner," said an engineer. Every process -- all the way to final packaging -- is automated. The blend of robotic and human labor is painstakingly optimized with a priority on return on investment.
Secret weapon? More like completely irrelevant. (Score:2)
Automation is hard and expensive, labour in manufacturing economies is cheap. This probably didn't reduce the manufacturing cost, just let them build it in Japan instead of China. Regardless, it had no impact whatsoever on the console's success in the marketplace. Consumers don't know or care how or where the console is manufactured.
Slave labor is cheap (Score:2)
And that's before we talk about the improved quality control from robots. Many video card manufacturers tout their 100% automated assembly lines because it means better quality b
Re:Secret weapon? More like completely irrelevant. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Secret weapon? More like completely irrelevant. (Score:5, Insightful)
Automation is very repeatable, so the quality is very consistent. Because of that consistency, it scales much better than human workers.
The hard and expensive part of automation is up front, and considering the PS4 is approaching its 7th year in production, that cost can be amortized out quite a long way. (Using the production life of previous models to anticipate the lifespan of the upcoming model.)
Once one robot is trained to do a task, training other like robots to do the same task is essentially instant and free.
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it's not completely irrelevant. i want to know what japan will do to deal with their crushing lack of diversity. Imagine a country that's 98% homogenous in 2020.
disgusting!
Initiatives like this are just a way for them to continue to practice their ugly bigotry. Those robots are stealing jobs from third worlders that should be imported in order to stave off population decline.
Shame on you Japan. Shame.
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Those robots are stealing jobs from third worlders that should be imported in order to stave off population decline.
Why would they import people to make the consoles and have to pay them a wage in line with the local market when they can just do what everyone else does and export the job to another country, and import the finished product?
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Consumers notice when products fail, and groups of consumers form opinions on reliability. Reputation matters.
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Re:Secret weapon? More like completely irrelevant. (Score:5, Insightful)
> Regardless, it had no impact whatsoever on the console's success in the marketplace. Consumers don't know or care how or where the console is manufactured.
They care when there's a global pandemic that shuts down huge numbers of the factories in China, resulting in shortages of consoles such as Oculus headsets and Nintendo Switch's.
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it had no impact whatsoever on the console's success in the marketplace.
The Nintendo Switch has been more or less sold out for the last few months because the virus disrupted its production just as millions upon millions of households suddenly discovered that daycare facilities, schools, and work places were being shut down. While the Switch is selling great (whenever it briefly comes back into stock), it'd be selling SO MUCH better if they were using an automated factory that was able to churn out enough supply to meet the current demand.
Meanwhile, PS4s keep rolling off the li
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The Nintendo Switch has also been significantly outselling the PS4 throughout the entire pandemic. The most recently sales figures had the Wii selling roughly twice as many as the PS4. So the automation didn't help them overcome Nintendo.
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Re:I'll get hate but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Great, while machines do all the repetitive work maybe humans can work on transcendental aspects of our spirit instead of this focus on rampant consumerism and distractions like playstations that consume their time until they die. The real fear is having enough time to look inside yourself and confront the nature of your being, which is why time off is called Holi..days.
Bye bye buy buy and good riddance too.
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Can I feed, clothe, and provide shelter for my family on the "transcendental aspects of our spirit"? Yeah, didn't think so.
You could simply use the time you spend on a playstation or in front of netflix. You're not going to starve you're just going to miss a few episodes of *whatever*.
The Truth is God, and God is the Truth. Nothing is more pure.
Then turn to your God and evolve instead of making excuses. Or is it simply easier to espouse your values instead of living them. Who is it that will spit you out of their mouth and why?
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You could simply use the time you spend on a playstation or in front of netflix. You're not going to starve you're just going to miss a few episodes of *whatever*.
Having time is not the issue.
The real issue is persuading someone to pay for your time,
so you can afford to feed, clothe and provide shelter.
You can't seriously believe that the ultra-rich are going to just give any of their wealth to you.
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You could simply use the time you spend on a playstation or in front of netflix. You're not going to starve you're just going to miss a few episodes of *whatever*.
Having time is not the issue.
You're avoiding your issues.
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Many artists do.
Even many service jobs can be creative and fulfilling if the drudgery is removed and the 40 hour week reformed.
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So what is the future? If I had to take a rational guess based on history and nature as a whole. Well, I would say the global population reduced to a fraction of what it is now with AI and robotics serving those that remain. But, that's way off into the future. And, all of that's assuming sudden shock to the system wouldn't break down supply chains in the interim to the point of never reaching the "end game".
The only way to overcome a future like that is to do everything you can do to become sane in an insane world. So while there is still time perhaps it would be good to stop watching so much crap shows full of subliminal advertising that take advantage of hooks in our psyche to control us and instead addressing those psychological wounds with some urgency to free your mind. You can't fix the world, you can only fix yourself.
Maybe if enough people become sane we can stop this whole tiresome "Planet of the P
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Can I feed, clothe, and provide shelter for my family on the "transcendental aspects of our spirit"? Yeah, didn't think so.
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The Truth is God, and God is the Truth. Nothing is more pure.
Maybe you're a Jew, in which case this doesn't really apply to you, but Jesus wanted people to give up their worldly possessions to help others. Can you feed, clothe, and provide shelter for your fellow humans by only being concerned with your family, and whether they have a Playstation?
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Basically the OP said in rather flowerly language that you let robots do the menial jobs (something robots and computers are good at) leaving humans with the more complex and creative jobs.
Why do we need humans to put tab A into slot C 10 hours a day? It's a waste of
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perhaps you like working with leather and can assemble an assortment of handmade leather goods, perhaps to a customer's requirement
And how many leather workers are making a living wage that way?
And what happens when there are 10X as many "leather workers" available,
who until recently had a job that was taken over by robots?
Maybe you didn't notice the advance of the "maker" movement,
whereby people make their own craft items rather than paying someone else to make it.
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Great, while machines do all the repetitive work maybe humans can work on transcendental aspects of our spirit instead of this focus on rampant consumerism and distractions like playstations that consume their time until they die. The real fear is having enough time to look inside yourself and confront the nature of your being
No - the real fear is that you won't be able to provide for your family, and you, your partner, and your children starve to death - in a country that probably has surplus food production (or is paying people to not grow food). Ergo, work for pay.
Take away the need to work to survive and perhaps you will see some more back-to-nature trends happening.
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No - the real fear is that you won't be able to provide for your family, and you, your partner, and your children starve to death
Yeah, I'm scared too, so it's probably a good idea to be as mentally healthy as possible for whatever changes are coming, maybe that way we can figure out the best way forward. Cunts are running the world and until we become sane enough to counteract the insanity we live with daily we will always have that fear because we are all slaves trying to fuck each other over for the next meal.
Such a beautiful world we live in :)
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"Transcendental aspects of our spirit" sounds an awfully lot like meaningless New Age woo.
To someone who's life produces no meaning.
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An ad hominem instead of an explanation. Pathetic.
Being reactionary isn't how you ask a question. [slashdot.org]
No hate from me, but .... (Score:3)
I do think you underestimate human nature a bit.
If we did get to where automation is the cheaper and superior way to cook and serve food at all the restaurants? It would usher in an era where it was trendy and cool to go out to eat in places where real humans still did those things instead. People would start paying a premium for the experience vs the current attitude of it just being entry-level work for low wages.
There's always a market for the person just grabbing some food on the go ... but most going o
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Certain sectors will get hit hard, like truck drivers if self-driving trucks advance... but this isn't going to be a massive, looming problem demanding we start doing a UBI right away, as some folks would have you believe.
We already need a UBI. We should already start doing one right away. The ultra-rich, who will have to shoulder the bulk of the tax burden, have convinced you otherwise. Now you're playing directly into their hands.
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What gets my goat is that there were discussions about something similar to what we'd call UBI during the NIxon administration. When Tricky Dick saw a need for "something", we're long past due for it.
What we ended up with is a little bit of a pilot program, you may have heard of it, it's called the Earned Income Credit.
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What gets my goat is that there were discussions about something similar to what we'd call UBI during the NIxon administration. When Tricky Dick saw a need for "something", we're long past due for it.
You mean like the EPA that Trump's been shitting all over? Yeah. Trump makes me miss Nixon too, even though he was an asshole.
What we ended up with is a little bit of a pilot program, you may have heard of it, it's called the Earned Income Credit.
I've heard of it, but I've never qualified for it, so it's fucking bullshit. It's also designed to produce more people in a world which doesn't need more people — the most you can get without children is five hundred bucks, while someone with one child can get $3500. We don't need more people! Fuck the EITC.
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Disagreement isn't hate. We should relearn that. (Score:2)
When are we gonna accept that the future of labor is there is NO future and accept the current system simply isn't gonna work in the 21st century?
Considering that in the USA we had essentially full employment before the COVID-10 'response', I'd say we'll accept it as soon as it starts actually happening. We seem to keep finding more things for people to do.
As for the 'government handouts' you talk about, I think you've got your causes and effects mixed up. A Walmart employee on public assistance raises their standard of living above living on government assistance alone, or living on their wages alone. You seem to imply that in the absence of governm
Sounds like a lot? Do the math (Score:2)
That's only 2880 a day. Sound like a lot, that's only about 1 million a year.
Still sound like a lot?
The PS4 sold 110 million units.
So they would need to increase production speed 20 to 30 fold to keep up with historic demand.
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Re:Sounds like a lot? Do the math (Score:4, Insightful)
If they've built one plant that can do it, they can build more.
If they're doing it today, everyone else will be doing it eventually.
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The part that is important here is being profitable making those consoles with zero reliance on a cheap labor force for that profitability.
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How long does it take to train a robot (Score:2)
to be hooked on video games? If you replace all the workers with robots the workers can't consume and the robots won't. Time to make popcorn...